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Ecommerce Website Design Trends for 2016

01/02/2016 | Web Development | 5 minutes

Like any fashion trend, web designers and digital marketers are in a constant battle with the dynamic nature of the web. The consistent bombardment of
culture on the web has saturated the online environment with a range of trends, causing designs and digital marketing tactics to go out of date quickly.
For designers, it’s crucial to stay on top of these design trends, particularly in the case of ecommerce websites, where users are likely to spend
a longer period of time browsing and navigating.

As we move further into the year, there are clear new trends emerging and others that are being phased out. We’ve compiled some of the most popular ecommerce
website design trends towards the end of last year and the beginning of 2016.

Bigger is better

In some ways, the world of ecommerce website design is being influenced by the world of product design. Large screens are becoming the norm in the tech
world, with tech giants such as Apple and Samsung demonstrating this in their latest smartphone releases. Designers have latched on to this trend by
using large, attractive imagery and hero images on their sites to stir up emotion, build trust and entice purchase.

This is particularly important for ecommerce websites selling high end, bespoke products, as the high price associated with these products often requires
a more complex purchasing decision. Furthermore, as internet speeds increase worldwide, web designers have a lot more bandwidth to play with in order
to create a richer, media led browsing experience.

It pays to be responsive

In the last few years, the focus of many ecommerce website design projects has been to develop a site that is mobile responsive. In a recent survey by
Google, it was found that 57% of users won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile site and 41% of users have used a competitor as a result
of this.

In 2016, however, the market is becoming saturated with mobile responsive sites and as mobile responsiveness becomes the norm, the need for differentiation
grows all the more important. Although mobile responsiveness offers a flexible solution, it doesn’t provide a fully mobile-centralised user experience,
which could prove to be the difference between making a sale and losing a customer.

User Experience

The web is rife with easily accessible ecommerce alternatives, so why should the customer choose yours? Providing your potential customers with a simple,
unique and intuitive user experience is crucial when it comes to ecommerce website design. Your
site should be easy to navigate, but still contain all the relevant, useful information that drives potential customers into converting ones.

There are a number of ways you can improve the experience for your users, from content such as reviews and technical specifications, to visuals such as
bold images and subtle animations. However, web designers have access to a plethora of different media when communicating over the web, and choosing
the most appropriate medium can be a complicated decision, presenting a challenging outlook for digital marketers and ecommerce web designers throughout
2016.